


Fighting Words

by angstbot



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:45:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1990227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstbot/pseuds/angstbot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little fic based on some spoilers from the S4 set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fighting Words

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers say Emma and Regina yell at each other in front of Granny’s. Here’s a version of that that.
> 
> Rated for language. Sexytimes free. Who am I and what have I done with angstbot?

Emma could feel barely-suppressed rage rolling off Regina in waves. The air between them was vibrating with that tension as the queen demanded more than asked “May I speak to you outside, Miss Swan?” The savior knew she was in for it, and indeed, as soon as the door to Granny’s closed behind them Regina let her have it. “Of all the stupid, self-righteous-”

 “I was saving someone’s life!” the blonde broke in, indignant.

“Altering the timeline is dangerous!” the older woman exploded. “There is a _reason_ time travel is impossible! Or, nearly,” she corrected with a dismissive flick of her wrist.

Emma was starting to get a little angry now herself. “You should be glad to have slightly less blood on your hands, Regina. The woman _I’ve_ come to know would be happy that family just got their loved one back,” she insisted.

Regina’s face contorted and she swallowed hard. “Loved one. When do _I_ get to be the loved one? He was my last chance at love!”

“Love? And you say I’m stupid. You’ve been dating him, what, _four days_? And to hear mom tell it you _hated_ him during the whole last year. You can’t _possibly_ be that attached to him.”

“Yes, please, tell me how I should feel. Tell me how to run my life better, Sheriff Swan,” the queen sneered. “You’re probably happy to make me miserable,” she accused, vicious in her hurt.

“Fucking hell, Regina. Don’t be ridiculous. I want you to be happy!” Emma was really shouting now.

“Bullshit,” the mayor enunciated, more effective out of her mouth than a thousand “Fuck”-s out of Emma’s. “You don’t care about me at all.”

“How can you say that?” the blonde exploded as she advanced into Regina’s personal space, not sure why this accusation made her so much angrier than anything else she had said.  “I hate having hurt you. Of course I care,” the blonde insisted, her voice tight as she tried to bring herself back under control.

The queen’s lip curled in disgust as she demanded “Why?” Emma was surprised to find her scar captivating at a time like this.

“Because I do! Just-” the blonde sputtered, caught out, unable to explain her emotional investment in the other woman. So, while hating herself for it, she took the easy way out. “Whatever else, you are and will always be the other mother of my son.”

Regina laughed humorlessly. “Oh yes, that was beautifully demonstrated by the fact that you were going to take him back to New York without consulting me.”

That stung, but Emma knew she deserved it. “It was stupid and it was selfish, okay?” she said, putting a little space between them again.

“Is that an apology?” the older woman taunted.

“Yes, damn it!” Emma was shouting again now. “I’m sorry! But I’ll point out that it’s because I had _your_ memories. Don’t think I don’t know.”

Regina’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t you dare turn this around on me.”

“You’re right,” the savior acknowledged, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. “I’m sorry. I was- just- afraid. It was a really good life.” At the mayor’s raised eyebrow, she corrected, “You gave us a really good life. Everything I ever wanted, and I didn’t want to lose it being pulled back into- this. I just wanted to be able to be _normal_ again.” She sighed.

“I understand the feeling,” Regina murmured, and when their eyes met the blonde could feel their old understanding still there underneath it all.

“I am so, so sorry that I hurt you, Regina,” she said, trying to put every shred of sincerity she had into it. She had no idea why, but in this moment she needed desperately for the queen to believe her.  “If there was a way to undo it I would.”

The older woman raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Oh you would,” she said more than asked.

“A way that didn’t involve killing Marian,” Emma deadpanned, knowing what Regina was getting at and pleased that they could tease a little.

The queen huffed a little chuckle at that, raising an eyebrow and nodding in acknowledgement. They fell into a surprisingly comfortable silence for a long moment, their bodies well within arm’s length but at strange angles, the awkward positioning of their fight’s aftermath like detritus littering a battlefield.

“You know, he said I was his second chance,” Regina said out of nowhere.

“Yeah?” Emma prompted as she looked up to meet the older woman’s gaze, not sure where this was headed but strangely elated to have the mayor opening up to her.

“I couldn’t help hearing second choice,” Regina confessed.

Emma’s eyes closed as a pang of sympathy washed over her. “You deserve better, Regina,” she insisted as she met her gaze again. “You deserve someone to choose you for you.”

“Who would possibly choose me?” the mayor scoffed.

“Anyone!” The savior tried not to examine why she was so very sure of that.

“Who? I’m the _Evil Queen_ ,” Regina said, that bitter self-awareness Emma had seen in Neverland back full-force.

“No,” she insisted. “You’re Regina.”

“Only to you, Miss Swan,” the older woman sighed. “And _that_ is why he was my last chance.”

“You’re being ridiculous again,” Emma insisted quietly. “You’re beautiful and strong and highly intelligent and unbearably sexy.” Her eyes went wide as she realized what she’d said and before she could help it she had turned her whole body to avoid meeting the queen’s eyes.

“Emma?” the older woman asked, something in her tone that Emma just couldn’t read without looking at her.

“I just mean that anyone who took the time to _see_ you would want you,” the blonde replied a little too fast.

“Anyone,” Regina repeated thoughtfully. “And is _anyone_ named Emma, perchance?”

It was ridiculous, and she couldn’t possibly mean it, except that she found that she actually kind of did as the moment stretched out into a weighty silence. She owed the older woman this honesty after planning to deprive her of Henry, after actually depriving her of Robin, even if she was just going to laugh in her face. Gathering up all her courage, she turned to face Regina squarely and looked her in the eye. “Yes, she is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Taking a leaf from the @bobbingformangos fic-writer’s manual and writing a deliberately uneasy ending.
> 
> Shoutout to @heyyouwiththeboobs for beta.


End file.
